FreeTaxUSA vs TurboTax for self-employed filers in 2026

Self-employed tax forms supported

The self-employed tax forms supported are the same in both: Schedule C, Schedule SE, Form 8829 for a home office, Form 4562 for depreciation, Form 8995 for the QBI deduction, and Form 1040-ES vouchers. So neither comes out ahead on forms. FreeTaxUSA's own list also names Form 7206 for the self-employed health insurance deduction.⁴ The forms follow the same tax law, so they produce the same result.

Both prepare individual returns at these tiers and take partnership and S corp K-1s in as income, but neither files the partnership or S corp return itself.

Ease of use

Ease of use comes down to how much data each product fills in for you. Both use a question-and-answer interview, and TurboTax fills in more. TurboTax Premium reads 1099-NEC and 1099-K forms from a photo and syncs your bank accounts to find business expenses, a feature Intuit limits to a single Schedule C.

FreeTaxUSA imports 1099 and W-2 data and last year's return from another provider, all free. FreeTaxUSA has no bank-feed expense finder. If you already keep expenses in a spreadsheet or bookkeeping app, you'll enter one total per Schedule C line in either product, and the difference in ease of use mostly disappears.

Tax pro help

Tax pro help on FreeTaxUSA is the Pro Support add-on, and on TurboTax it is a separate tier, Expert Assist or Expert Full Service. Prices are in the cost section below. Here is what each option includes:

• FreeTaxUSA Pro Support: Calls or chats with a tax pro for advice on your return, plus a final review called ProCheck before you file. Deluxe, the cheaper add-on, gets you live chat with support agents, not tax pros.
• TurboTax Expert Assist: On-demand advice from Intuit's tax experts on top of the software, plus a final review before you file. Expert Assist is not part of Premium itself.
• TurboTax Expert Full Service: An expert prepares and files the return for you, in person at a TurboTax location where available or online.

FreeTaxUSA has no in-person option, so if you want to sit across a desk from someone, TurboTax is the only one of the two that offers it.

Accuracy and refund guarantees

On accuracy, FreeTaxUSA and TurboTax get you the same refund when you enter the same income, expenses, and credits, because both complete the same Form 1040, Schedule C, and Schedule SE under the same law. A difference between the two comes from inputs: a deduction one interview prompted for and the other did not, a home office or vehicle method chosen differently, or a 1099 entered twice. So compare the two returns line by line, not just the bottom line.

Self-employment tax is the line most worth checking. It is 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit, and the 12.4% Social Security part stops at that year's wage base.⁵ If you pay your filing fee out of your refund, that fee comes out of the deposit, not out of the refund the return calculates.

Both vendors guarantee their math. FreeTaxUSA pays IRS or state penalties and interest caused by a calculation error, and refunds your purchases if another online tax software gets you a larger refund or a smaller tax bill. TurboTax pays penalties and interest caused by a TurboTax calculation error, and refunds your TurboTax purchase price if another preparation method gets you a larger refund or smaller tax due. Neither guarantee covers the tax itself, or a mistake in what you entered.

Federal and state filing fees

Federal and state filing fees are $0 and $15.99 per state at FreeTaxUSA, and $139 federal plus an unpublished state fee at TurboTax Premium. Most complaints about TurboTax are about cost: Free Edition excludes 1099-NEC and business income, so a freelancer starts at $139 federal before adding a state.

Paying the fee out of your refund adds $24.99 at FreeTaxUSA, and Intuit doesn't list its equivalent fee on the Premium page.

What tax pro help costs

What tax pro help costs is $64.99 for FreeTaxUSA Pro Support, while TurboTax prices Expert Assist and Expert Full Service separately. Deluxe, the $7.99 live chat with support agents, is not tax pro help. Here is what a tax pro's review costs at FreeTaxUSA with one state return:

Intuit doesn't publish an Expert Assist or Expert Full Service price for a Schedule C return on its product pages, so there is no TurboTax column to compare. The Full Service price depends on your forms, and Intuit says the expert confirms an estimate before starting work. Ask for that estimate before you compare it with the $80.98 FreeTaxUSA total.

Choose FreeTaxUSA if

• You file one Schedule C and already total your expenses in a spreadsheet or bookkeeping app
• You want a tax pro's review for $64.99 instead of moving up a tier
• You file in more than one state and want to know the state price before you start
• Your return is an individual return and uses none of the items FreeTaxUSA doesn't support: foreign earned income on Form 2555, a nonresident return on Form 1040-NR, a home outside the US, at-risk limits on Form 6198, or a business casualty or theft loss

Choose TurboTax if

• You want 1099-NEC and 1099-K forms filled from a photo
• You want expenses for your one Schedule C pulled from a linked bank account
• You want someone to prepare the return with you in person
• You also have investment or crypto activity you want Intuit to import, and the import is worth the $139 federal starting price to you